The National Parks Sound Map is a project created by a team of researchers fro University College London and the Universities of Aberdeen and Sheffield.

Phase 1 saw us working with National Parks staff to identify one or two sounds which are emblematic of each of the parks, which say something about the park, which we put on the soudn map intially. For Phase 2, we continued working with National Parks staff, finding ways of helping visitors and residents within each Park to engage more with the invisible, yet audible world of sound, encouraging more attentive listening, asking, “What do our Parks sound like?” and, “How do their sounds affect our lives, our health and sense of wellbeing”. Since its launch, the map has attracted over 100 sounds, submitted by the public.

The idea is that we’ll eventually cover the whole area of each National Park with sounds recorded and uploaded by the public, representing the vast range of sounds we can hear in our parks, creating a Museum of Sound which can be visited in the future.